Chapter 32
Kara raced around the room, checking to make sure everything was set and where it should be for the gala starting in only a few hours. There must have been some unwritten law in the universe that stated that something would go wrong the day of important events. The florist had called that morning in a panic saying that the freezer fritzed out during the night, and all of the flowers were wilted. A brief freak out and emergency hunt around the other flower shops in the city, and the shop had scrambled together the flowers that Cat had ordered and recreated the arrangements. They ended up being delivered at the same time as the food, and Kara initially worried that there would be a confrontation between the two groups because they had to work around each other.
The florist and the caterer eventually came to an unspoken agreement to just move around each other as they set up, so Kara was able to breathe a sigh of relief. She halted her frantic checking as her phone buzzed with a series text messages, and pulled the device out of her pocket.
They were from her mother.
Go home and get changed.
At a reasonable speed.
Relax.
It was a few seconds before another buzzed through. Now Kara.
She rolled her eyes at her mother’s insistence, at least she hadn’t resorted to calling her ‘Kiera’ and ordering her home with the normal threats Cat spewed in her ‘CEO and boss’ mode. Kara knew the woman didn’t mean them when they were directed at her, but sometimes, sometimes she saw something in her mother’s eyes that she didn’t recognize and couldn’t identify. It worried her, just a bit, but she put it out of her mind.
Kara checked in briefly with the workers and people setting up before hurrying back to her apartment. “Krypto come on,” she said, calling her dog over as soon as she opened her door. “I have enough time take you to the dog park before I have to get to the gala.” The dog huffed at her, but walked over obediently and tugged is leash down from its place hanging next to the door. “I know, I know you’re mad because I’ve been so busy, but you’ve had fun with Carter haven’t you?” Kara asked, clipping the leash on his collar.
The dog booped her with his nose before trotting out into the hall towards the stairs. “Alright, I’m coming, slow down,” the blonde grunted as he tugged her away from the door. Kara let Krypto drag her to the park, and she released him from his leash to go run around and greet his dog friends. She gave him a good half hour to run around since he had to stay cooped up in the apartment and on the balcony while she was at work and Carter was staying with his dad. Krypto was used to staying inside when he was on Krypton since her mother would only allow him in certain areas of their dwelling, namely Kara’s room. Being trapped in a tiny suspension chamber for decades had a lasting impact on Krypto’s psyche though and he never liked to be cooped up alone anywhere.
Letting out a loud whistle, Kara called the dog over when she needed to get back to her apartment. “Krypto, we have to go,” she said as he trotted over to her. “Who’s a good boy,” she murmured, rubbing his head and stomach, “Yes, who’s a good boy?”
Krypto’s tongue lolled out of his mouth as she scratched his stomach, his tail lightly thumping against the ground. “Alright, come on,” she said, clipping his leash back on and leading him out of the park. “I have to go home and get ready or grandma is going to be mad at me.” The black tail wagged even faster when she mentioned Cat, she was his favorite, despite the fact that the woman wouldn’t allow him to climb all over her like he does for everyone else. He would just lay down at her feet, and look up at her in adoration, while Kara and Carter laughed at her disgruntled expression. Cat always put up a front that she barely tolerated Krypto, but Kara knew that she was the one responsible for sneaking him extra treats.
When the two returned to her apartment, Kara freed the dog before locking herself in the bathroom with her garment bag. She showered and washed her hair, spinning herself dry before applying a strong, leave in conditioner to her golden locks. One downside of flying all the time now was her hair drying out, so her mother located an organic conditioner that was designed to hydrate hair for people living in arid climates. She had to condition her hair every day, but at least it wasn’t dry and stringy anymore.
Kara twisted her hair into a long, messy fishtail braid and touched on a little mascara and lip gloss before pulling her dress out of the garment bag. The shimmering blue fabric clung to her chest like a second skin but flared out around her legs slightly to allow more freedom of movement. She slipped the thin, spaghetti straps over her shoulders, and pulled on a low pair of strappy, heeled-sandals. Cat had instilled in her a sense of fashion over the years, even if she chose comfort over style while home or running errands. Her mother always pretended not to notice her oversized sweatshirt and shorts when she came over for a visit. She poured food for Krypto before dashing out of the door, grabbing her purse on the way out.
The red carpet was already rolled out by the time she reached CatCo, and the press were already clamoring and taking pictures of the A-list celebrities and Who’s Who Cat had invited to the event. Ducking around back, Kara avoided the chaos of the red carpet and entered the gala, her eyes wide as she took in everything around her. The decorators out did themselves with the elegant arrangement of flowers and the large cutouts of Supergirl around the room. Clean cut servers were carrying trays of food and champagne to the visitors who were mingling around the room, and an ensemble was playing music close to where several of the attendees were dancing.
“This place looks great,” Kara gasped as she looked around, her eyes wide. She spotted her mother floating around in between guests, greeting them all with her usual polite smile and charm, promoting CatCo and Supergirl the entire time. Lena was there as well, fashionably late as per the Luthor style, but she arrived slightly earlier than she normally would to similar events because she wanted to show her support for National City’s resident hero and converse with potential investors.
Winn approached her as she looked around the room, a large grin on his face. “Love the cardboard cutouts,” he said, winking at her, “They give the decorations a nice touch.”
“Shut-up Winn,” Kara rolled her eyes. She turned her attention to the door just as Maxwell Lord strolled through with his entourage. “Oh great…”
“Oh my god,” Winn gasped next to her, “It’s Maxwell Lord! I can’t believe he came, though I did hear he had a thing for Ms. Grant…”
“Don’t remind me,” Kara groaned, rolling her eyes. “He’s a bit of an ass.”
“Ah, well, sometimes I forget that Ms. Grant is you… Well, you know, um, I’m going to go get some drinks,” Winn stuttered out, disappearing towards the serving tables.
Kara glanced back towards the entrance where Lord was holding court and a scowl crossed her face and her eyes narrowed. She recognized one of the people following behind the man, and while she wasn’t surprised, she wasn’t impressed. “Well, well, look who crawled out of hiding,” Lena murmured as she slid in next to Kara, her eyes glued to where Kara was looking. “Haven’t seen her since high school.”
“Who?” Kara asked, turning her attention to her friend.
“Rachel Berkowitz,” the brunette replied, gesturing to the woman clinging to the man Kara was looking at. “I thought that’s who you were looking at?”
Her mind immediately flashed to the bully that was always lurking in the shadows during their time in high school and she gasped, “Oh Rao, you’re right. I wondered what happened to her, but I assumed she was vanquished and sent back to hell from whence she was summoned.”
Lena nearly choked on her champagne as a laugh attempted to escape her throat. “You have to warn me before you’re going to say stuff like that,” she whispered, trying to maintain her composer. “So since you weren’t staring at the she-devil, who were you staring at?”
“The guy she’s with,” Kara whispered, looking back at the familiar man. “That’s James Worthington, he’s… he’s the guy that Laurel cheated on me with.”
“You mean that thing that we don’t speak of that you-know-who did?” Lena turned her eyes back to the man. She scrutinized him for a minute before snorting, “He does look like a narcissistic, racist, sexist, xenophobic asshole, he and Rachel deserve each other really. They’re both exactly alike.”
“Doesn’t surprise me that Worthington is working for Lord, he admired the man a lot from what I could tell, and the firm he and Laurel worked for represented Lord, I bet he’s been assigned as his personal attorney,” Kara said, rolling her eyes. “They’re the ones that deserve each other, a match made in some creepy lab.”
Lena just hummed as she glanced around the room before nudging Kara in the ribs again. “You didn’t tell me that you invited Alex and Maggie,” she hissed, pointing to the two women who bypassed Lord as they snuck in behind him.
Kara’s eyes widened as she took in the two women, both wearing dark dress suits and low heels. Maggie had her holster and badge strapped to her belt as usual, while she could barely make out the holsters underneath Alex’s arms. “Oh Rao, she carries two guns,” she whispered, heat suddenly racing through her body.
“Kara!”
“What?” The blonde snapped out of her stupor, “What?”
The brunette just gave her a pointed look before glancing back at the women, “Maggie, Alex, why?”
“Oh, um, I didn’t invite them, and they look like they’re working rather than attending. I’m assuming that Cat sent NCPD a general invite requesting officers and plain clothes detectives to be around, she usually does for these events. I’m also guessing that Alex is here in her capacity as an FBI agent.”
“Well at least they dressed for the part, though it would have been interesting to see Agent Alex Danvers dressed to the nines for a gala, don’t you think?” Lena teashed, a broad grin crossing her face at the blush that bloomed on Kara’s cheeks.
Kara just rolled her eyes and looked away, a groan escaping her throat. “Ugh, Mom is dancing with Maxwell Lord,” she hissed to Lena. “She better not think about dating him again, I swear…”
“Your mom has better taste than that, how’d she end up with him the first time?”
“Drunken one-night stand that I really, really didn’t need to know about but I knew and heard, and it was very very traumatizing and I try not to think about it,” Kara mumbled, shaking her head.
Before Lena could reply, Winn walked up to greet them, handing one of the drinks in his hand to his blonde friend. “Lena! I’m glad you’re here, I was thinking about that… Well, that project we’re working on, ways to make it better.”
“Project?” Kara’s eyebrow quirked as she looked between her two friends.
“Never you mind, just go stand somewhere and look pretty,” Lena waved her hand, dismissing her friend while she and Winn went off whispering about their top secret project. She knew that she could hear them, and she knew that they knew that she could hear them but she chose not to pay attention to them; if they wanted to keep secrets, who was she to intrude on them?
She walked around the room, her eyes shifting between the guests standing around talking and drinking, and the small dance floor where several couples stood swaying gently to the music. “Hey you,” Alex’s voice came and Kara turned to find the woman standing next to her.
“Hey, hi,” Kara replied, cursing her inability to keep her wits about her whenever she was near Alex. “What are, um, who, you look great,” she finally settled on the last statement, unsure of what else to say. She didn’t want it to be obvious that she had been looking at her earlier and had already sussed out the reason as to why the other woman was at the gala.
Alex smiled wryly, “Thanks, not the best for a gala, but I’m working so…”
The blonde waved her hand, “No, no, I get it, on duty, sad thing is that you can’t have any of this delicious champagne.”
“I’m sure it’s a true shame because Cat Grant has excellent taste,” Alex replied, “Though I am more of a gin or whiskey girl.”
“My mom likes her whiskey too, a little too much sometimes, I worry about the state of her liver,” Kara murmured, her eyes searching for her mother still on the dance floor with Maxwell Lord.
The two were silent for a moment before Alex spoke again. “I’m sorry by the way,” she said, “For what happened at the Lut- At L-Corp’s renaming ceremony. I don’t have any right to judge you or your friends, I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright,” Kara told her. “I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
Alex opened her mouth to say something else when James appeared in front of them, a friendly smile on his face. “Hey Kara,” he greeted. They had talked a few times since he had been hired and while he was nice, Kara was still reserved with him due to his friendship with her cousin.
“James,” the blonde nodded, “Um, Alex, this is James Olsen, James this is Agent Alex Danvers, FBI.”
Alex’s brow furrowed, “Jimmy Olsen?”
“Yeah, I’m trying to leave that nickname behind me at the Daily Planet though,” James replied, ducking his head a little. “New city, new job, new start, all of that.”
“I can respect that,” the auburn haired woman nodded, a flicker of understanding flashing through her eyes. Kara cocked her head slightly as she contemplated that look, what could Alex have been running from to warrant a new start, or who?
“Ah, Kara,” James’s voice broke her out of her thoughts, “Care for a dance?”
The blonde shrugged, “Sure why not.” Taking his hand, they walked to the dance floor where James started to lead her in a slow sway. She never understood why humans called this dancing. “So why did you decide to leave Metropolis?” Kara asked, “I mean you were working for the Daily Planet and best friends with Superman, it can’t just be because Ms. Grant offered you a better job.”
James laughed, “Well, that certainly helped, but mainly it was because I got tired of living in someone’s shadow. The big guy is great, but I had to step out on my own you know, see what I can do.”
“Did you know about Supergirl when you came? That she was his cousin?”
“He told me a while ago that he had a cousin living in National City, and I’ll admit it did influence my decision a bit but she wasn’t the only reason I came.”
A shuddering noise reached her ears and a loud crash echoed through the room and Kara turned to see a scarred, wild looking man in a mask and dark suit dropping through the ceiling. The suit held a glowing reactor and Kara instantly knew it was a nuclear reactor from the minute amounts of radiation she could feel in the air. “Reactron,” James muttered and Kara’s memory clicked. He was one the people that tried to take down her cousin, an act of revenge for his wife dying from something that Superman could have prevented; he was one of the few people her cousin feared and couldn’t fully defeat.
“Where is Supergirl?” The man growled out, the mask covering his mouth causing his voice to sound raspy and low.
People that were frozen around the room started darting away, taking cover under tables and behind columns. Kara glanced around for her mother and best friend, but her hearing told her that Cat had already left the gala. She spotted Lena and Winn crouched down behind a table on the other side of the room, both of them looking at a device in Lena’s hand. “Where is Supergirl?” Reactron bit out again, tossing a ball of fire at one of the pictures of the Supergirl edition of CatCo magazine.
Kara pushed James out of the way, hustling him to a relatively safe spot around a corner. “Stay here,” she ordered before disappearing down one of the nearby hallways. Spinning into a quick change, Kara flew back around, and raced through the open doors, slamming into Reactron. Her mother would not be happy if they caused any more damage to the room, so she quickly grabbed the dazed man and flew out of the hole he created earlier. She flew to the abandoned warehouse district as quickly as she could, but Reactron shook himself from the daze long enough to direct an overpowered punch to her stomach. Dropping the man out of shock and pain, they both crash landed on the ground with a loud thud, the world jarring around them.
Reactron picked himself up out of the dirt before Kara did, cracking his bones and suit as he went. “I’m going to enjoy seeing you burn,” he hissed, blasting fire straight at her. Grunting, Kara rolled out of the way before flying straight at him again, sending a series of punches straight to his head and another to his right arm flailing around. A super charged blast of nuclear radiation straight to her chest sent her flying backwards into the ground again. “I’m going to destroy you,” Reactron breathed out. “I’m going to take you the same way that your cousin took my wife from me.”
Pushing herself up off the ground, Kara sped towards him again before fading right and hitting him towards the left at the last moment. “Guys,” Kara panted, tapping her earpiece to connect with Lena and Winn. “Do you have any ideas before I get burned to a crisp out here?”
“You have to dismantle his suit,” Winn suggested. “It’s pretty much where he’s getting his power, you have to take out the nuclear core.”
“You can’t just take it out,” Lena commented. A low thud reached Kara’s ears and a slight whine, indicating that her best friend just hit her geeky friend. “Anyway, you can’t just take the core out, from out readings, it’s very unstable. While you would be fine, I don’t think the rest of National City would appreciate a mushroom cloud overhead.”
“Okay, so what do you two suggest?”
“Lead, you have to encase the core in lead,” Lena told her, “Shut up Winn.”
Kara rolled her eyes at her friends’ bickering and glanced around, thankful that she had flown them to an area that was full of lead. She quickly located a few pipes and melted one over her right hand before turning back to the man, her left hand still clutching the other pipe. “Hey!” She yelled, distracting him before backhanding the man with the pipe, cracking his mask and knocking him out. She dropped to her knees over the man and sunk her had into the center of his suit, wrenching the glowing nuclear core out of its seal. Leaving the downed man where he was, Kara flew up into the air high above National City and used her heat vision to melt the rest of the lead over the unstable core and unstick the metal from her hand.
“We’ll take that Supergirl,” Alex’s voice came and Kara turned to see the agent walking up behind her.
“You can go ahead and give it to them Kara. I don’t really need that unstable core in my lab, and who else would you give it to?” Lena chimed in before closing the connection.
Kara handed the nuclear core over to one of the waiting agents without a word, causing Alex to look at the superhero curiously. “What? No one wants an unstable nuclear core?”
“Well there really isn’t a whole lot that you can do with it, unlike the axe, there’s a lot you can do with an axe.”
Alex just hummed, “I’m sure, are you going to disclose to us who you left the molten axe with?”
“I don’t think it’s any of your concern really,” Kara retorted before glancing over at the downed man. “What’s going to happen to him?”
“He’s going to be given a medical care, try to reduce the effect of the radiation, and then a trial, if he makes it that long,” the other woman replied.
“It’s kind of sad really,” the heroine murmured. “He lost his wife, probably his whole reason for living, and he wanted someone to blame when there really wasn’t anyone to blame.”
“He’s still a criminal Supergirl, and he needs to pay for his crimes. He’s done terrible things in his quest for revenge, hurt countless numbers of people.”
“I know, and I agree but that doesn’t mean I still can’t have compassion for him and what he’s lost,” she told the other woman. “Do you need anything else from me? I need to go check on everyone at CatCo, make sure there wasn’t any lasting damage.”
“I think the police are there, but yes you can go,” Alex waved a dismissal. “Oh but wait, since you’re going back that way, can you do something for me?” Supergirl inclined her head and Alex continued. “Someone… I know someone that works at CatCo, she was at the gala, Kara Danvers. I didn’t see her after Reactron landed, so I don’t know… Can you just… can you tell her to call me or my girlfriend Maggie to let us know that she’s alright?”
“Kara Danvers?” Kara questioned, her heart warming at the thought that Alex cared enough about her to make sure that she was okay. She quickly shook it away though, Alex and Maggie were dating, and she wasn’t going to be the one that broke them up. She despised cheaters and she wasn’t about to become one, even though Alex was technically married to her so she was the one cheating. It didn’t count if one party didn’t know, and she wasn’t ready to tell her, she didn’t know if she would ever be ready.
“Blonde hair,” Alex’s voice broke her out of her thoughts, “Blue eyes, blue dress that matched her eyes, hair in an elegant braid, very fit, very beautiful…” The auburn haired woman’s voice trailed off and her eyes became distant before she snapped back to attention, “I just want to make sure that she’s okay, she’s sweet and my girlfriend loves her.”
“I’ll be sure to look for her Agent,” Supergirl nodded her head before taking off into the sky. She flew back to CatCo and scanned the room with her X-ray vision looking for Lena and Winn but found that both of them had already left. Pulling out her phone, she quickly sent the two a text checking on them before banking away from the building and heading towards her mother’s penthouse.
Landing on the balcony, Kara blurred into the penthouse looking for her mother, changing out of her suit along the way. “Kara,” Cat said, setting her drink down and embracing her daughter. “Are you okay?” Her eyes ran over the younger woman while her hands searched for any injuries.
“I’m fine Mom, he just knocked me around for a bit, but no permanent damage,” she said, grabbing Cat’s hands and squeezing them. “I can’t say the same thing for your gala room, though I did try to minimize the damage as much as I could by getting him out of there as soon as possible.”
“That’s what insurance is for darling,” Cat waved her hand. “And I took out extra insurance on the building when you started working for me.”
Kara cocked her head, “Why?”
A small smile crossed Cat’s face and she reached up to cup Kara’s cheek. “Oh darling, you still break things on occasion when you get excited. I’ve already had to replace quite a few doors and office supplies that crack under your grip.”
The younger blonde blushed, “Sorry Mom.”
Cat waved her hand, “That’s what insurance is for darling, it’s not a big deal, though I did have to increase the budget for office supplies, though it allowed me to decrease the salaries of the incompetent department heads. I’ve been paying them far too much, they’ve gotten sloppy in recent years, don’t think I don’t know how much work you do, editing everything they’ve done before it even gets to me.”
“Well, they need a lot of work,” Kara replied, glancing away.
The older woman hummed, “Are you staying the night?”
“No,” Kara sighed, “I know you don’t like being alone when Carter’s not here, but I really shouldn’t leave Krypto alone, not when I haven’t told him. I’ll stay until you go to sleep though.” When her mother made to protest, Kara held up her hand, “Stop, you know I don’t need as much sleep as humans do, not when I can get twice as much rejuvenation from the sun in the morning. I’m staying to make sure you get some rest, and then I’m going home.”
“Fine,” Cat sighed, “I’m finishing my drink first though, would you like to have one?”
“I’ll always have a drink with you mom,” Kara told her. “No one should drink alone.”
When Kara arrived at CatCo the next morning, work crews had already arrived to fix the damage created by Reactron the night before. Fortunately the part that he crashed through was separate from the main tower, used only for special events and functions. Briefly she wondered when Cat called the construction crew for them to be there before eight in the morning making repairs, but she’s learned over the years to never underestimate her mother. She headed up to the executive floor, her mother’s latte in her hand, and found the woman already in her office on the phone with the Paris branch of CatCo worldwide media.
After another half an hour, more people started trickling in, discussing the gala last night in low murmurs. The whisperings quieted down when they spotted Cat in her office, but Kara could still hear a few of the office workers talking about the Reactron and Supergirl fight. She started working on the list of assignments and tasks that appeared in her inbox overnight, typically edits for the next issue, but mostly they were panicked inquiries from other employees worried that Cat would fire them for cowering when Reactron showed up at the gala. She was replying to the fourteenth email to reassure someone that Cat wasn’t going to fire them, when James appeared in front of her desk.
“Hey Kara,” he greeted, a small smile but apprehensive look on his face. “Can we talk for a minute?”
“Um, sure, do you want to…” Kara vaguely pointed around her, and James grimaced.
“Ah, right, um, we can head back to my office,” he replied, motioning for Kara to follow him. The office on the same floor as Cat’s if only for convenience, the art director often had to get final proofs and layouts to the CEO as soon as they were done so it made it easier to have both on the same floor. While Cat’s office was bright with sunlight streaming in through the large windows, James’s was dark, almost shadowy with the sunscreens pulled down. She glanced around the room and noticed a few framed pictures on the wall, mainly ones that made the man famous, including the picture of her cousin that was the front cover for the Daily Planet.
“So, what do you want to talk about?” Kara asked, clasping her hands in front of her.
James looked at her for a minute before glancing away, “Why didn’t you tell me that you were Supergirl? That you’re his cousin?” The blonde just cocked her head and stared at him, causing James to sigh. “Look, I saw you last night, I saw you change into her, so I want to know why you didn’t tell me?”
“I don’t…” Kara started before sighing, “I don’t know why you think that’s something you feel I should have told you, I don’t really know you.”
“But your cousin in my best friend,” James protested, “Wait, this also means that you’re Cat Grant’s daughter, she raised you, why didn’t you tell me that either? I asked you about her, you.”
“Again, what makes you think you should be privy to any of this information?” Kara asked, “You don’t have any say over my life, I literally just met you after I came out as Supergirl, and as for me being Cat’s daughter, that’s something that we don’t really advertise here. It would just open a whole can of worms we don’t need, even though technically it isn’t wrong. HR knows, Winn knows, but that’s it.” The blonde gave the taller man an assessing look, “Well I guess you know now too.”
“I, uh, look,” James sighed, rubbing at his face, “Superman gave me something to give to you before I moved out here.” He grabbed a box off of his desk and handed it to woman.
Kara opened it, and her eyes instantly fell on bright red fabric. “His baby blanket,” she murmured, recalling playing on the blanket with Kal, teaching them how to crawl. “Why did he want you to give it to me?”
James frowned, “Well, it’s bullet proof, heat resistant, Kryptonian cloth…”
The blonde sighed, “Look, James, I know you mean well, but I have a cape, a suit that was made specifically for me. If I used this, it would just tie me further to my cousin, and I want to distance myself from him.”
“Why?”
“He only came back in my life after I became a hero, I’m used to being separate from him, I don’t see any reason why that should change,” she retorted.
James opened his mouth to reply when a small knock came at his door. He glanced at it in frustration but rubbed at his face trying to push away the feeling. “Come in,” he called.
The door was pushed open and a small woman entered the room. “Hey James, I was in town and I though- wait, Kara?” She asked, staring at the blonde woman.
Kara’s eyes narrowed, taking in the petite stature, short hair, and familiar brown eyes. Memory did it’s trick and her eyes widened, “Lucy?”